by Tina Folsom
“So I heard. Sorry to disappoint you guys, but you’ll have to continue putting up with me. I ain’t going nowhere, particularly not to the dark side; never quite liked that look.”
“Then why did you disappear?” Enya asked, her eyebrows snapping together, her lips pursing.
Hamish ruffled her hair, earning himself an impatient grunt from her. He’d always treated her like a younger sister, and she normally played along; but apparently she was at the end of her nerves, and told him so. “Hamish!”
“Well, it’s a long story, and it’s got a lot to do with why we’re all here. And why we had to bring Aiden’s charge.”
“I’m listening,” Manus announced and crossed his arms over his chest.
“There’s a traitor on the council, working for the demons.”
Both of their fellow Cloak Warriors gasped.
Aiden held up his hand. He wasn’t finished with the bad news yet. “And the demons now have the blueprint for the drug.”
“You’re fucking shitting me!” Manus stared at them in disbelief.
Enya’s protest followed. “That can’t be true! Tell us that’s not true!”
Aiden interrupted. “It’s true, but before we tell that story twice, where is everybody?”
“Pearce is in the command room, Logan is in his quarters. Sean and Jay are out on assignment.”
“I’ll get Pearce and Logan,” Enya offered. As she walked to the door, Leila took a step toward her.
“Excuse me, could you please show me the bathroom?”
Enya scowled, but then relented. “Come with me. And you’d better not be going anywhere else but the bathroom, or I’m on you like a bee on honey.” To underscore her threat, she put her hand on the handle of her dagger.
Leila nodded quickly and followed her out of the room. Aiden watched her disappear, then looked back at Manus.
“You said you left messages. I didn’t get any.”
“That’s not possible,” Manus protested. “Just admit that you didn’t want to let me know where you were, because you were too busy shacking up with your charge.”
Aiden gritted his teeth. “I got no fucking message from you.”
Manus narrowed his eyes. “If that’s true then we’d better have Pearce look at your cell phone. Because I swear, I left you three messages in the last twenty-four hours.”
He knew his friend wasn’t lying. Which could only mean one thing. “Somebody must have tampered with my phone.”
Hamish tossed him a look. “Do you think that’s how the demons would have found us in Sonoma, via your phone?”
“It was switched off the entire time. And I’d already disabled the GPS tracking device before we even went to the Thai massage parlor.”
“Somebody could have reactivated it,” Hamish guessed.
“Let’s ask Pearce,” Manus suggested.
The door opened. “Let’s ask Pearce what?” the man in question answered. He motioned his head toward Hamish. “Good to see you back in one piece.”
“Good to be back.”
“So what do you guys need to know?”
Aiden pulled out his cell phone. “Manus says he left me three messages. I never got them. Which makes me think somebody did something to my phone. Can you check it out?”
Pearce accepted the phone. “Can you be a little bit more specific what you’re looking for?”
“We were attacked by demons this morning. There was no way they could have traced us to our safe place. My cell phone was off, and my GPS was disabled. Is there any way somebody could have reactivated it?”
“Hmm, let me comb through all the software you’ve got on it and see whether anything shakes.”
“How long?”
“A few hours, at most.”
“Thanks.” Aiden let out a relieved breath. They would need a few hours anyway to formulate a plan and get everybody on board.
“Oh, and while you’re at it, can you see who might have put a tap on Leila’s parents phone line? She called her parents from the Thai parlor, and we believe that’s why they set the dogs on us.”
“Ah shit, after all we told her?” Manus cursed.
Aiden felt the inexplicable urge to defend her. It was his own fault as much as it was hers. But his anger over her lies won out. He ignored his friend and patted Pearce on the shoulder. “Can you do it?”
“Piece of cake.”
“Thanks, man.”
A moment later, the door opened and Enya and Logan entered.
Hamish cleared his throat. “Well, since we’re all here, let’s get you guys up to date.”
***
Zoltan pressed the cell phone to his ear and looked around him before answering. He already knew who was calling him—very few had this number.
“Yes?”
“Did you get it?” the Cloak Warrior’s voice came through the line.
He felt fury rise up through his stomach. His last mission had been a bust. And he knew exactly who to blame.
“You neglected to tell me he had help. Because of your useless information I lost two men.” Two men who were entirely expendable, and he would have not batted an eyelid about the loss had he come away with his prize.
“Aiden defeated you?”
“Did you the fuck not listen to what I said?” he barked into the phone, angry for having to deal with such an imbecile. “There was a second Cloak Warrior helping him. And the human was strong, she had virta in her. You didn’t mention that either.”
“I didn’t know, I swear,” the man stammered.
Zoltan could fairly sense the fear in him, and it only fed his anger more. He let out a growl, not caring that he sounded like a wild beast. It was best for the Cloak Warrior to know how displeased he was.
“I want results, not excuses,” he hissed. “Now, you go back and get me information I can work with. Do you understand?”
“Yes. I’ll make sure of it. And once you have what you want, you’ll hold up your end of the bargain?”
Zoltan kept his chuckle to himself, listening to the nervous breaths of the man on the other line.
“We had an agreement.”
“Yes, we agreed,” Zoltan confirmed. Didn’t mean he had to keep to his word. Not to a conniving Cloak Warrior who sold out his own race to gain power and world domination.
Finlay continued, “I will reward you well for it later when I’m your leader. When we’ve overthrown the Great One together and I have taken the throne of the Demons of Fear. You’ll be my right hand then. Together we’ll wield real power. With me at the helm, this world will finally see what it means to be ruled by a powerful leader. They will bow down before me.”
“As you say, this world will have a new leader soon.”
But it wouldn’t be a Cloak Warrior. And Zoltan would make sure of that.
THIRTY
It took almost an hour for Hamish and Aiden to convey everything they knew to their fellow Cloak Warriors and to answer their many questions.
“So what now?” Manus asked.
“Our highest priority is finding Zoltan and getting the pendant back. It’s well disguised as an ordinary necklace. I myself never suspected otherwise. And Leila said it’s not easy to open and figure out what’s inside, so he might not even know yet what he has in his hands,” Aiden announced, hoping he was right. “Pearce, you know what to do. Whoever tapped Leila’s parents’ phone must have set the dogs on us at the Thai massage parlor; and if somebody tampered with my phone, it should lead us to the traitor on the council. The traitor is our first priority. He’ll lead us to Zoltan.”
Pearce rose and walked to the door. “Let me get on that right away.”
“And you’re sure we’re looking for two different people?” Enya nudged forward on her seat.
Hamish answered in Aiden’s stead. “Yes. It makes no sense for the demons to want her dead, and clearly somebody has been making attempts on her life—”
“Which reminds me,” Aiden interrupted, turning t
o Manus. “Did you find anything out about the neighbor who delivered the bomb?”
“Jonathan? Well, I’m afraid he’s a dead end. I had a word with him, if you know what I mean. He almost peed in his pants.” Manus let out a bitter chuckle. “Turns out, some woman approached him and asked him to give the present to Leila.”
“Excuse me?” Enya asked. “What kind of dufus wouldn’t see through that thin veil?”
Manus shrugged. “Apparently, Jonathan is susceptible to sob stories. She told him that she was an old friend of Leila’s, and that they’d fallen out over some guy. And that she wanted to make up, but Leila would never take the present if she knew it was from her. Yada, yada, yada. The guy ate it up like Banana Cream Pie.”
“Idiot!” Aiden cursed. “Could he at least describe her?”
“Average height, average built—”
“—average looking.” Aiden knew the drill. It could have been anybody, probably just a human who’d been hired by a Cloak Warrior. There were plenty of them in their service. “So that’s not going to lead us to the guilty party. Anything else?”
“I’m still working on getting the right body to stage Leila’s death,” Manus answered.
“Hold off on that for now,” he instructed, an idea forming in his head. “Once Pearce has got some data for us, we’ll regroup. And I believe I don’t have to say this, but nobody outside these four walls can know that Hamish and I are back. Is that clear?”
“We’re not daft!” Enya rolled her eyes.
Then Aiden suddenly looked around the room. Shit, having concentrated on getting their friends up to speed had made him forget one thing. “Where the hell is Leila?”
Enya rose. “I think she threw up in the bathroom. Came out white like a sheet. So I put her in your quarters to lie down.”
Aiden shot up from his armchair. “You what?”
“I locked her in—”
“Fuck!” He charged toward the door and rushed into the corridor.
***
Leila dried her face with a towel that smelled like Aiden. It didn’t make her feel any better. At least her bout of nausea had passed: the terrifying attack by the demons and then the claustrophobic journey through the portal had caused that. The first time she’d used the portal, she hadn’t felt sick, but then again, Aiden had kissed her when he’d realized how frightening the prospect of hurtling through dark space was for her.
This time, however, he’d shunned her. She couldn’t even blame him. Everything he’d said was true: she’d lied to him, she’d kept the existence of the data hidden from him. But he didn’t really understand why she’d done it. He could never understand it: he wasn’t the one about to lose his parents. She would be all alone now. It would take her years to reconstruct the blueprint for the drug from memory. By then, her parents would be too far gone for her drug to be of any use.
She left the bathroom and walked back into the bedroom. There was no doubt about who this suite of rooms belonged to. Not only was Aiden’s masculine scent imprinted on the bed she’d briefly rested on, but there were pictures of him and his family. And a shrine of sorts, a special place over the fireplace, where the picture of a beautiful dark haired woman was framed. Dried white lilies surrounded the frame. She didn’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out who this was. Clearly, he’d worshipped Julia and reminded himself daily of her death. Almost as if he wanted to keep the pain alive.
Her hand reached toward the picture, compelled to stroke the woman’s beautiful features, so much like Aiden, yet so much softer, mischief in her eyes, and a smile on her face.
“You shouldn’t be in here.”
Startled, Leila spun on her heels and faced Aiden. She hadn’t heard a door opening, but then again, he probably never used a door.
“Enya brought me—”
“She had no right!” Aiden glared at her, his eyes shifting to Julia’s picture behind her.
“I didn’t mean to invade your privacy. I’ll go then.” She took a couple of steps, but he blocked her exit by stepping into her path, his body only a foot away from hers.
“And where do you think you’re going?” he pressed out from between clenched teeth.
“Out of your way until you’ve calmed down.”
“Calmed down?” He narrowed his eyes and drew closer. “Oh, I’m calm, I’m very calm right now. Trust me, you don’t want to see me when I’m furious.”
Leila swallowed the lump in her throat. She might as well face the music now. There was no need to drag this out any longer. “Go ahead then. Tell me what you think of me: tell me how much you hate me for what I’ve done! I’ve got nothing more to lose. I’ll never get my parents back! Are you happy now?”
Aiden grabbed her shoulders. Instinctively, she took a couple of steps back, but he didn’t let go. Instead he pressed her against the nearest wall. “Happy? I wish I’d never met you! I wish I’d never known what it feels like to be betrayed like this.”
“What did you expect me to do?” she yelled back. “Hand over the last copy of my data so you could destroy it? So you could squash all my dreams of saving my parents? Of preserving my family? You of all people should understand that I couldn’t do that. You know what it’s like to lose someone.”
His head snapped to Julia’s picture over the mantle, then back to her. “Hamish!” he cursed. “He had no right to tell you!”
“I’m glad he did.”
“Julia is not up for discussion here. I won’t let a human—”
“So that’s what this is about: you hate me because I’m human, because I’m not as strong as she was.”
He pressed her harder against the wall, his fingers digging painfully into her flesh.
“I told you to keep Julia out of this. This is about you deceiving me.”
She was beyond fear now. Whatever he did to her, it didn’t matter anymore, but she wouldn’t go down without a fight. “Do you think she’d be happy knowing what you’re doing to yourself? How you keep blaming yourself day after day?”
A flash of pain sparked in his eyes, but a second later, he had himself under control again.
“You don’t know anything about me!”
Leila shook her head, remembering the glimpse of his soul she’d seen the night they’d made love. She understood him better than he thought. “I wish I didn’t. You know why? Because then I could just walk away and not care. But you’ve shown me too much of yourself. I can’t pretend not to feel your pain. I can’t pretend not to want to help you.”
“Help me?” He stared at her with incredulity. “You’re the one who’s in need of help, not I! I’m not the one the demons are after, I’m not the one who’s got a price on her head. And you want to help me? Get real, Dr. Cruickshank!”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, unable to yell any longer. “I wish I could make it all undone, Julia’s death, your hatred for humans, us meeting ...” She closed her eyes. Would she really want to wipe any memories of her time with Aiden from her mind if she could? It took only a second for her heart to find the answer. “No. I take that back. Us meeting, I wouldn’t undo that.”
When she opened her eyes, she collided with his heated gaze.
“God damn it!” he cursed and sank his lips onto hers.
She felt his anger in the way he kissed her, rough, hard, as if he wanted to punish her for what she’d said.
His hands let go of her shoulders, then went down to her jeans. He dug them into the waistband, but instead of simply opening the button and lowering the zipper, he tore at the fabric and shredded it like it was paper, making her aware that he could tear her body just as easily if he wished.
She gasped into his mouth, both shocked and excited at the same time. Cool air wafted against her naked skin before his hot hand was between her legs, sliding over her sex, just as he ripped his mouth from hers.
“I tell you how you can help me,” he bit out. “By spreading your legs for me.”
His eyes still held some of the a
nger in them that she’d seen there earlier, but now they were glazed with lust and desire, and she knew instinctively that he wouldn’t hurt her.
Without giving it a second thought, she unbuttoned his pants, lowered the zipper and pushed his jeans down to his thighs. Before she could do any more, he lifted her, spreading her legs wide.
Without a word, he plunged into her, his cock harder than ever.
***
As he thrust into her wet heat, Aiden knew what he needed now was to show her that he couldn’t be played with. He had to make it clear to her that she would be punished if she ever hurt him again.
When he looked at her face, he saw how she’d leaned her head back against the wall, her lips parted, her eyes half closed.
“More,” Leila panted.
She showed no sign of distress despite his rough handling of her. On the contrary. Her legs wrapped around his waist, urging him on to fuck her harder, to go deeper, to take more of her.
Unable to resist, he took her lips again, this time with more passion and less anger. Gods, she tasted good—so good he couldn’t imagine ever giving this up, ever giving her up. Despite everything, despite the fact that she was human, she’d held her own when confronted with his fury. She hadn’t backed down, just as she didn’t flinch now as he drove even harder into her.
“I need you,” he mumbled against her lips before he delved his tongue back into her, thrusting it in the same rhythm as his cock.
He wasn’t lying this time: he needed her. She gave him the strength not only to face the demons that were after her, but his own personal demons, the ones that had been haunting him since Julia’s death.
Breathing hard, Aiden released her lips and trailed hot kisses along her neck.
“I want you, Aiden, I want you so much,” she let out, and it sounded like a sob.
He looked back at her eyes and saw a multitude of emotions brimming there. “You have me, baby,” he whispered back and gently captured her lips, stroking his tongue over them.
When she sighed contently, his entire body filled with a newfound sense of strength. His balls tightened at the same moment, and he felt his orgasm overwhelm him. Unable to hold it back, he brought his hand between them and rubbed against her clit as he drove into her one last time. As his knees nearly buckled, waves of pleasure crashing over him, he wasn’t sure where his orgasm ended and hers began.
